So far today I've already had this conversation:
Patron: "How many pages do you get to print for free?"It's not looking good, folks.
Me: "Two, & after that it's 10 cents per page."
Patron, holding up two sheets of paper: "Does this count as two?"
Me: ".......uh, yes."
Oh, also...we have an intern this summer at the reference desk. I think she's about 21 and seems quite the starry-eyed library undergrad, hoping to do great things for patrons and books. I informed her of the porn situation yesterday and I ended up laughing at her shocked reaction. "Welcome to the library," I said. I probably shouldn't tell her about the mentally disabled cleaning guy who uses his dust rag to diligently clean out the inside of his nostrils, too.
18 comments:
I'm glad it's you and not me who has to deal with these people all day.
Aside from occasional clients in the office all I have to deal with are co-workers.
You suffer The Stupid so that we may be entertained. Thank you.
BTW - Is the starry-eyed intern cute?
No Filter on the internet connection? Really?
I'm sure Breda will correct me, but many libraries don't filter at all. The filters for porn also have a tendency to filter out things like sexuality issues, STD information, and other items that are sexual, are important, but are not pornographic.
I'm willing to wager that in any decently sized library that there is some erotica, at least some Anne Rice and a copy of Lolita.
What it comes down to is that libraries are supposed to be neutral places to access information and entertainment and as soon as you block one thing you start blocking other things and then we all lose.
Is the porn thing a lot like talking in the library? Its not that the librarian is making a judgement on the material, its that it disturbs other patrons.
Jonathan is correct and yes, MikeW, she's cute.
So when are you getting cute intern to the range?
"Patron, holding up two sheets of paper: "Does this count as two?""
Everybody who works with the public should be allowed to taze one idiot a day.
The biggest problem, of course, would be deciding which idiot deserves it most. I mean, it's really suck to have shot your bolt at 10AM and then have an even bigger idiot show up after lunch...
Come to think of it, maybe the bag limit needs to be bigger than just one per day.
"Everybody who works with the public should be allowed to taze one idiot a day."
Ever see the Star Trek movie with Kirk and Picard? Remember the big lightning-bolt-nexus-thingy? Earth needs a big shot of that. Nexus-taze all the Earth's idiots into a different dimension where they can live in a stupor instead of being stupid around me. ZZzzt. Zzzzt. Like a bug light for bug brains.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt.
Radness! My first job out of tech school was working the Ref desk at a Catholic University during the evening hours, and man oh man, did we get some weirdos. One guy had a thing for watching girls study while he choked his chicken. The law school finally caught him for defiling a book, he's in jail for destruction of property now.
The thing that really irked me though was the students who blame the library for losing papers (that they didn't end up saving on the network drive), or demand to use a computer after the library was closed.
Thankfully, I got a raise, and a promotion to cataloging. No more dealing with nasty pervs, or students with entitlement issues for me!
When are you going to tell her about the masturbators? I was never warned about them in library school.
Yeah, we get the masturbators in the bookstore too. Plus, the bonus morons that ask how long they can check a book out for.
It's a book STORE and yet when we explain that we sell books, not loan, the blank stares come out.
There are times I reeeeaaaaly don't like the public.
People like that make me long for Zombpaclyapse.
Anyone THAT dumb cannot possibly last long...
I admire you for putting up with them... I couldn't do it!
@ Breda, well, you're taking it on the chin for us. At least you provide the entertainment here. Thanks for your public service.
@ TAM, LOL!!
I have the patience to watch paint dry, but I know for certain that I'd go loony if I had to put up with that.
Jim
"I'm sure Breda will correct me, but many libraries don't filter at all. "
Commercial content filters cost non-trivial amounts of money. Sonic Wall unlimited is, IIRC, 8 or 9 hundred bucks a year, for educational institutions (which would prob cover the library).
Lee, it's not about the software, it's more the fact that librarians seem to be sticklers about the freedom of information.
"Everybody who works with the public should be allowed to taze one idiot a day."
On on particularly bad commuting day I told the better half that everyone should be allowed to P.I.T.T. ten idiot drivers a year.
She asked what I would then do after January 3rd?
Now I've sen libraries where most of teh computers were filtered (and labelled "family friendly" or some such), with the UNfiltered computers positioned so that the screens were hidden from other patrons.
The idea wasn't to promote censorship -- it was to allow full access machines without having the six year olds have to ask, "Daddy, who is Debbie, and why is she doing Dallas?"
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